Taking flight

Bird & Bottle will be a collab between kitchen, winemakers, and bar

By Andrew Saliga

While most of restaurant and bar industry growth is centered on downtown, one restaurant group has its sights set on Midtown for the next venture.

3 Sirens Restaurant Group is set to open its third restaurant, Bird & Bottle, at the end of this month. They currently operate The Bramble, which has one location in the Blue Dome District and another at the Jenks Riverwalk.

The new restaurant and bar is tucked away in the Ranch Acres East Shopping Center at East 31st Street and South Harvard Avenue. It will focus on locally-sourced American cuisine and on providing a curated selection of wine, beer, and cocktails. Bird & Bottle’s house rosé, chardonnay, and pinot noir will be custom-bottled Zinke wines, complete with Bird & Bottle branding—a logical choice since Debra Zinke is one of the three co-owners.

The cocktail menu is thorough, covering a gamut of spirits and drink styles from friendly and familiar to some that will pleasantly challenge palates. The house cocktails will emphasize a collaboration between the kitchen and bar staff. The kitchen will create fresh fruit purées and seasonal simple syrups, as well as special garnishes for a few cocktails, like the Golden Smoke.

The Golden Smoke contains mezcal, tequila, elderflower liqueur, Yellow Chartreuse, and bitters. The smokiness of the mezcal is tamed by the sweetness of the elderflower liqueur and Chartreuse. This drink is garnished with a grilled lime wheel that’s made to order.

Only time will tell which cocktails become customer favorites, but bar manager Ashley Shoemake has her bets on the Golden Smoke and the Pear Collins.

For those looking for something more refreshing, the Pear Collins is a mix of gin, house-made pear purée, lemon, rosemary simple syrup, and elderflower liqueur, topped with soda. The pear purée shines through in this spring-weather tipple.

For those who crave bolder flavors, the Nightingale is an ideal choice. This cocktail plays with the flavors of chocolate, coffee, and orange by combining Fernet-Branca, espresso liqueur, Cointreau, cherry bitters, and half-and-half. The Nightingale shares similar flavors with the White Russian but adds an array of deeper flavors.

Prior to the arrival of Bird & Bottle, the space was occupied by St. Michael’s Alley, a gastropub that Bird & Bottle co-owner Johnna Hayes used to frequent. St. Michael’s was known for its $4 martini, a tradition Hayes will continue. Bird & Bottle’s $4 martini allows customers a choice of gin or vodka, dirty or dry, and an olive or lemon twist garnish. To highlight the martini offering, part of the bar decor will be Hayes’s grandfather’s vintage cocktail shaker, which is large enough to hold an entire bottle of gin.

Operating hours will tentatively be 3–9 p.m. on weekdays, with extended hours on the weekends for brunch and late-night drinks. Be the early bird that savors cocktail and disregards the worm—something you fortunately won’t find in the Golden Smoke’s mezcal.